White House Still Pushing for 2016 TPP Implementation, Spokesman Says
President Barack Obama “absolutely believes” Trans-Pacific Partnership implementation legislation “should pass this year,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said July 29 during a press briefing (here). Schultz was responding to a question about whether the White House will push for…
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a vote on any TPP activation bill during the upcoming “lame-duck” session of Congress. The White House is pushing for the vote despite the sour political and public environment surrounding free trade and the TPP, and despite Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s opposition to the deal in its current form, Schultz said. “The president is acutely aware of the politics around this,” Schultz said. “But that’s not going to stop him from getting this done.” The House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees didn’t comment. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., during a luncheon in Milwaukee last week said he doesn’t believe a vote on TPP implementation legislation will happen this year, adding that he doesn’t support the pact because the Obama administration “screwed up negotiating it,” according to a transcript of the luncheon provided by his office. Ryan continued: “I’ve spoken to the President about this; I’ve spoken to the [U.S. Trade Representative] about this. They know what [congressional Republicans] think are the problems in this agreement and they’ve got to go fix it, but I don’t see that happening. I don’t know if they’re going to get that done, so I don’t see the votes there for it.”